25. Observe carefully the behavior and manners of those who are distinguished by their good breeding, and strive to imitate the real perfections of the good company into which you may get.

26. The difference between a well-bred man and an ill-bred man is this; one immediately attracts your liking, the other your aversion. You love the one till you find reason to hate him; you hate the other till you find reason to love him.

27. Whatever useful or engaging endowments we possess, virtue is requisite to make them shine with proper lustre.

28. The love of virtue is the love of ourselves.

29. No action can be called virtuous that is not accompanied by the sentiment of self-approbation.

30. Do nothing shameful either in the presence of others or alone; respect yourself and others will respect you.

31. Remember that if you ever preserve life at the expense of virtue, you are not certain that you have prolonged existence for an instant; but you are certain that rendered the rest of it contemptible.

you have

32. Store your mind early with maxims of every day prudence and axioms of religious obligation: the perfection of our conduct proceeds from the purity and wisdom of our ha bitual thoughts.

33. Be virtuous for your own sake, though nobody were to know it, as you would be clean for your own sake though nobody were to see you.

34. There is nothing so delicate as a man's moral character, and nothing which it is his interest so much to preserve

pure.

pear,

35. Do what is just, speak what is true, be what you ap and appear what you are.

36. If any one speak ill of thee, flee home to thy own conseience, and examine thy heart: if thou be guilty, it is a just correction; if not guilty, it is a fair instruction; make use of both, so shalt thou distil honey out of gall, and of an open enemy make a secret friend.

II-TRUE POLITENESS.

PRESIDENT Jefferson, while walking in the street one day with a merchant, returned with an air of kindness the bow of a negro, who passed. "How," said the merchant, "does your Excellency condescend to salute a slave?" I should certainly be very sorry," answered the President, "if a slave could exceed me in politeness."

III.-A GOOD EXCUSE.

SHERIDAN being on a visit at a friend's in the country, an elderly maiden set her heart on being his companion in a walk. He excused himself at first on account of the bad weather. Soon afterwards, however, the lady surprised him in an attempt to escape without her. "Well," said she, "it has cleared up, I see." "Why, yes," he answered, "it has cleared up enough for one, but not enough for two."

IV. AN EXPENSIVE JOKE.

DOMINICO, the favorite buffoon of Louis XIV., being one evening admitted to the presence of the king during supper, said not a word, nor uttered the least remark, but seemed wholly absorbed in the contemplation of a dish of partridges of an exquisite appearance. The king perceiving what it was that so closely engaged his attention, and wishing to make him talk, said: "Give that dish to Dominico."—" And the partridges, too, sire?"-" And the partridges, too," replied the magnificent monarch, pleased with his wit. The dish was gold.

V.-AN ALARMING THREAT.

A STUDENT of medicine having lost an important lawsuit, broke out in the most violent language against his judges, and said that it would probably cost the lives of more than a thousand persons. He was instantly arrested on account of this alarming threat, and an explanation asked for. 'Nothing is more plain," said he; "in taking away from me all my property, you leave me no other resource than to become a physician."

VI.-A STRANGE COMPARISON.

THE Physicians, says the Spectator, are a most formidable body of men. This body may be described like the British army in Cæsar's time. Some of them slay in chariots, and some on foot. If the infantry do less execution than the charioteers, it is because they cannot be carried so soon into all quarters of the town, and dispatch so much business in so short a time. Besides this body of regular troops, there are stragglers, who, without being duly listed and enrolled, do infinite mischief to those who are so unlucky as to fall into their hands.

VIL THE PHILOSOPHER OUTDONE.

A LEARNED philosopher being very busy in his study, a little girl came to ask him for some fire. But," says the doctor, "you have nothing to take it in;" and, as he was going to fetch something for that purpose, the little girl stooped down at the fire-place, and taking some cold ashes in one hand, she put live embers on them with the other. doctor, seeing this, threw down his books in astonishment, and exclaimed, "With all my learning, I should never have found out that experiment."

VIII.-RETORT COURTEOUS.

The

It is well known that Pope was quite small and deformed. One evening, while he was at Burton's coffee-house, with Swift, Arbuthnot, and a few other friends, poring over a manuscript of the Greek Aristophanes, they found one sentence which they could not comprehend.

As they talked pretty loud, a young officer, who stood by the fire, heard their conference, and begged leave to look at the passage. "Oh," said Pope, sarcastically, "by all means: pray let the young gentleman look at it." Upon which the officer took up the book, and, considering awhile, said there wanted only a note of interrogation to make the whole intelligible. "And pray, sir," said Pope, piqued at being outdone by a military man, "what is a note of interrogation?" "A note of interrogation," replied the youth, with a look of the utmost contempt, "is a little crooked thing that asks questions."

IX-A POOR SATISFACTION.

HENRY VIII., King of England, having quarrelled with Francis I., King of France, determined to send an ambassador to that prince, with a message couched in haughty and threatening terms, and appointed for this purpose his chancellor, Sir Thomas More. The chancellor having remarked to Henry that his embassy on this occasion might cost him his head" Never fear, man!" said the king, "if Francis takes your life, I will make every Frenchman in my dominions a head shorter." "There would be some satisfaction in that," replied the facetious chancellor; "but I much doubt, sire, whether, among all these beads, there would be one which would fit my shoulders so well as my own."

X.-AN INTRICATE SUIT.

A YOUNG law student was obliged, by lot, to inscribe his name among certain new levies of the Austrian imperial army. He sent a petition to the emperor, stating, that as he was on the point of being called to the bar, he flattered himself he could be of more service to his country as a lawyer than as a soldier. "My good friend," said the emperor, you are not ignorant that I am engaged in a very intricate suit against the French Convention, and that I want the assistance of men of such talent as you appear to be. Have the goodness to accept these twelve ducats. Do your duty, and I promise you promotion."

XI.-PATRIOTISM.

WHEN the English were in possession of Boston, at the commencement of the Revolutionary war, Washington, for the purpose of driving out the enemy, consulted Congress as to the propriety of bombarding the city. John Hancock presided at the time. A member proposed that the President should first give his opinion, as being deeply interested. "Gentleman," said he, "all the property which I possess is in Boston; yet I should rejoice to see the city reduced to ashes, if by that means, the English should be driven from our country."

XII.-A VETERAN CORPS.

DURING the war of independence, eighty old German soldiers, who, after having long served under different monarchs in Europe, had retired to America, and converted their swords into ploughshares, voluntarily formed themselves into a company, and distinguished themselves in various actions in the cause of independence. The captain was nearly one hundred years old, had been in the army forty years, and present in seventeen battles. The drummer was ninety-four, and the youngest man in the corps on the verge of seventy. Instead of a cockade, each man wore a piece of black crape, as a mark of sorrow for being obliged, at so advanced a period of life, to bear arms. But," said the veterans, (C we should be deficient in gratitude, if we did not act in defence of a country which has afforded us a generous asylum, and protected us from tyranny and oppression." Such a band of soldiers never before perhaps appeared on a field of battle.

XIII.-NAVAL ORATORY.

ADMIRAL Blake, when a captain, was sent with a small squadron to the West Indies, on a secret expedition against the Spanish settlements. It happened in an engagement, that one of the ships blew up, which damped the spirits of the crew; but Blake, who was not to be subdued by one unsuccessful occurrence, called out to his men, Well, my lads, you have seen an English ship blown up; now let us see what figure a Spanish one will make in the same situation." This well-timed harangue raised their spirits immediately, and in less than an hour, he set his antagonist on fire. "There, my lads," said he, "I knew we should have our revenge soon."

XIV.-A SAILOR'S REPLY.

As a sailor was about to embark on a long voyage, one of his friends said to him: "I am astonished that you dare to trust yourself upon the sea, since your father, your grandfather, and great-grandfather perished all by shipwreck!" "My friend," asked the sailor, "where did your father die?" "In his bed, as all his ancestors did before him." "And how dare you, then, trust yourself in bed, since your father, grandfather, and great-grandfather died there?"